Book Review: The Mormon Way of Doing Business

I have been wanting to read The Mormon Way of Doing Business for a long time. I had heard a talk on CD by Jeff Benedict (the author) and really enjoyed it (my brief review of it is posted on the previous link).

This book chronicles how eight LDS businessmen live their lives and juggle the responsibilities they have with their families, church callings and their intense work assignments. I felt inspired by their examples and wanted to be better. Although they each had a different style of doing things, there are lessons to be learned from each.

One anecdote that impressed me was how Clayton Christensen defined when he would and would not work (you must read his talk here). Truly profound! Anyways, he was a new hire, working for a high-profile company. He was asked to come to a work meeting on Sunday. He said, "I've got a problem--I've committed not to work on Sundays." The manager was mad, but switched the meeting to a Saturday. When he informed Christensen, Christensen said, "I'm sorry but I have a problem. You see, I've committed to my wife that I will keep Saturday a day for the family." When the manager expressed displeasure, Christensen said, "If it won't work for you to have me spend time in this way than perhaps it would be better if I found other employment." In other words, he wasn't backing down.

Turns out the manager rescheduled the meeting for Friday and it became known that Christensen didn't work Saturdays and Sundays. He did however arrive at the office at 6 AM Monday-Friday, and didn't take lunch breaks.

Kim Clark worked a similar ethic; his rule was to always be home by 6:30 PM. In each case the men balanced their priorities differently, but it was neat to see how they had been successful by carefully putting first things first.

There is much more I could write by way of insights I gained from this book--I highly recommend you read it.